Activists hem in far-right protesters in Quebec City
QUEBEC CITY — Police were pelted by beer bottles and smothered with smoke bombs set off in garbage cans as counter-protesters overtook an anti-immigrant rally here on Sunday afternoon.
La Meute, a group associated with the far right that says it’s against radical Islam and lenient immigration rules, organized the Quebec protest to rally against the policies of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Premier Philippe Couillard “in the face of the scourge of illegal immigration.”
Since July 1, nearly 6,800 people have streamed across the border from the U.S. into Quebec at an unofficial crossing to claim asylum. By comparison, only 2,920 claims were filed in Quebec in all of 2015.
At least one of La Meute’s members was identified in footage of the white supremacists protesting in the deadly riot in Charlottesville, Va.
La Meute members assembled in a parking garage near the National Assembly at 1 p.m., but before they could step outside to demonstrate, close to 300 counter-protesters gathered outside.
By 3 p.m., La Meute still remained indoors.
Participants in the counter-protests, organized by a group called Citizen Action Against Discrimination and the Ligue anti-fasciste anti-raciste Quebec, chanted outside. Some of them began throwing bricks at a man carrying a Patriotes and a Quebec flag.
When he turned around to confront them, he was tackled to the ground.
The counter-protesters shot at least three coloured smoke bombs at a line of police — one of which hit an officer’s helmet. A trash bin on wheels was set on fire and pushed toward a police line on d’Artigny Street.
Quebec City police then announced that the protest was illegal and ordered the crowd to disband. Counter-protesters headed south along Jacques-Parizeau Street and dispersed after throwing fireworks and a flare at police.
Some of the anti-fascist protesters returned to the exit of La Meute’s parking garage headquarters. When the far-right group’s members emerged to speak with the media, the counter-protesters taunted them. La Meute members remained silent.
Police arrested an activist and counter-protester outside the parking garage. The counter-protesters moved toward police, who released a dispersive gas and pepper-sprayed one masked counter-protester.
Quebec police announced again that the protest had been deemed illegal, and by 4:30 p.m., counter-protesters were forced to leave the area.
Provincial police officers in riot gear stood waiting.
Counter-protesters, many of whom had been pepper sprayed, marched down Rene-Levesque Street.
Trudeau condemned the “intolerant, racist demonstrations.” He said he stood with millions of Canadians “who reject the hateful, harmful, heinous ideologies” that have sprouted across the country.
“The small minority, angry, frustrated group of racists don’t get to define who we are as a country, don’t get to tell others who we are and don’t get to change the nature of the open, accepting values that make us who we are,” Trudeau said hours before the Quebec City demonstration.
Quebec Premier Philippe Couillard tweeted about the violence, saying that people have the right to demonstrate peacefully with zero tolerance for violence.